Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) Chairman And CEO Greg Boyce Honored With University Of Arizona Alumni Of The Year Award

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of his outstanding career achievements and enduring dedication to the University of Arizona's College of Engineering and its Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce has been recognized as a 2013 University of Arizona Alumnus of the Year. Boyce accepted the honor from the University of Arizona Alumni Association at the university's annual Alumni of the Year Awards presentation ceremony in Tucson, Ariz.

"I am truly honored to be named by the College of Engineering as a University of Arizona alumnus of the year, particularly given the extraordinary achievements, and dedication to service, of my fellow honorees, past and present," said Boyce. "The world-class education I received at the university laid the foundations for countless professional and personal milestones, and marked the start of a four-decade career in mining that has taken me around the globe. It has been my privilege to continue to support the university and its students as an alumnus."

During his career in mining and energy, Boyce has worked across a wide range of commodities, including copper, uranium, gold and coal. He previously held roles with Kennecott Copper and Rio Tinto, before joining Peabody Energy in 2003 as President and Chief Operating Officer. In 2006, Boyce rose to President and Chief Executive Officer of Peabody and was elected as Chairman of the Board in 2007.

Boyce is the architect of the Peabody Plan, which outlines steps to eliminate energy poverty and achieve continued improvement in clean coal technologies through the global build-out of state-of-the-art coal-fueled generation.

Boyce's career has previously been recognized with a number of honors. In 2012, he was inducted into the Mining Foundation of the Southwest's American Mining Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the global mining sector and his plan to eradicate energy poverty.

Also in 2012, Boyce was named one of America's Most Valuable CEOs by Chief Executive magazine, ranking 36th among S&P 500 chief executives. He is the only CEO to be named among the top chief executives for both the energy and mining sectors, garnering recognition from Institutional Investor magazine and the Global Energy Awards. During Boyce's tenure, Peabody has earned more than 170 major honors for safety, financial and environmental excellence, and received the Platts Global Energy Commodity Excellence Award for leading the global coal sector in performance and stewardship.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Goldberg, Dean of the University of Arizona's College of Engineering, said Boyce's longstanding support of the university and its students had been a key factor in his nomination. "Greg agreed to serve on the college's Industry Partnership Board not long after he was named as CEO of Peabody," said Dr. Goldberg. "Despite his demanding schedule, Greg has shown an unwavering commitment, providing a major sponsorship for the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources, and a faculty-member sabbatical with Peabody Energy that subsequently led to long-term research opportunities as part of the UA Science Foundation Arizona project. He also encourages Peabody's leaders to serve on advisory committees for the Lowell Institute and has provided company resources to assist in research projects for mine health and safety, and environmental sustainability."

Boyce holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Arizona and an Advanced Management Program degree from Harvard University's Graduate School of Business.

Boyce serves as the Chairman of the Coal Industry Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency and is a former Chairman of the National Mining Association. He is a member of The Business Council, Business Roundtable and the National Coal Council, where he was Study Chair of the council's report, "Coal: America's Energy Future." He is a member of the boards of directors of Marathon Oil Corporation and Monsanto Company. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis and is a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Arizona's Department of Mining and Geological Engineering. He is President of the Board for Variety the Children's Charity of St. Louis and is a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Saint Louis Science Center.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. For further information, go to PeabodyEnergy.com and CoalCanDoThat.com.